Advanced Manufacturing & Design Cleveland: An Opportunity for the Fastener Industry in the Midwest

Advanced Manufacturing & Design (ADM) Cleveland took place March 29-30 at the Huntington Convention Center in downtown Cleveland, Ohio. Special events, educational sessions, exhibitors, and networking opportunities were available for manufacturers and those in the industry to learn about the latest trends in manufacturing. For attendees, the expo’s admission was sponsored, allowing for an array of visitors to explore the future of manufacturing free of charge.

The expo featured automation, robotics, 3d printing, medical manufacturing advancements, overcoming the workforce/skills gap, lightweight manufacturing, and more. Attendees, exhibitors, and speakers traveled from near and far to the event to gain and give to their industry.

Fastener News Desk had the opportunity to attend and while there we came across Rotor Clip;ASG, Division of Jergens, Inc.; and American Ring. We spoke to representatives from each company who saw the benefits of attending ADM’s inaugural expo.

“Exposure is the biggest thing. There’s a lot of people from different industries and it’s exposure,” states Jon Saute, Inside Sales Manger of American Ring.

“It’s important that American Ring and other companies come here and get the chance to meet engineers.” Saute says that speaking to engineers has been of benefit to not only American Ring, but also the engineers. This interaction has helped them design different fasteners and retaining rings for the engineers. In return, engineers are then able to better understand these applications.

“Being able to connect with your local customers, to be able to show them a wider breadth of samples than you would typically see,” is one of the benefits Brian Gordon, Senior Sales Engineer, of Rotor Clip finds about attending ADM Cleveland.

“We’re seeing a different group of people that we would typically see at our shows,” Gordon says, pointing out that there are a lot of companies from Ohio and the western Pennsylvania regions.

Gordon also says that it has been important to connect “with companies, larger companies in the area, the local area, that don’t necessarily make it out to some of the other shows on the west coast where these shows typically are.”

“Ohio has really needed a good assembly trade show here,” states Rick Wagner, Regional Sales Manager , of ASG. “With all of the manufacturing that is going on in Ohio compared to some of the other regions that I have covered, it really helps me grow a good foothold within the state to boost manufacturing.”

There’s “[a] lot to see in the improvements in manufacturing and where we’re going with it in the future,” Wagner says. Wagner feels that attendance at the show has been beneficial, especially regarding the advancements of automation. ASG is looking to take advantage of automation and merge it with manual assembly.

“[P]eople are looking for ways to cut costs and increase productivity and automation is one of the biggest ways of doing that nowadays,” he says. Saute of American Ring echoes Wagner, saying that “[Automation] reduces costs…and boosts efficiencies.”

“A lot of what excites me about automation is just being able to watch a machine build a part for a company and all the aspects of picking and placing parts and components on boards or controllers”, says Wagner, “and then driving those fasteners in, using our tools, that’s pretty cool to watch.”

Advanced Manufacturing & Design Cleveland will be taking place March 7-8, 2018 again at the Huntington Convention Center in Cleveland, Ohio. Mark your calendars!